


imagination blossom

by managician



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: Established Relationship, Flowers, Fluff, M/M, One Shot, Post-Canon, hopefully anyway. lmao
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-02-29 02:04:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18768958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/managician/pseuds/managician
Summary: Yusaku and Takeru try out gardening together.





	imagination blossom

**Author's Note:**

> For day 2 of @letsmakeyusakusmile! Today's prompt is Bloom.

“Hey, Yusaku!” Takeru beams as he enters Kusanagi's truck, not without difficulties; the ten heavy books he's carrying between his arms make walking on a straight line kind of a hard task. “I'm back from the library.”

Takeru drops the pile of volumes on the table, and out of curiosity, Yusaku picks up the first one. _Planting: A New Perspective_ , by Piet Oudolf and Noel Kingsbury.

“Huh?... Gardening?” Yusaku asks with the faintest hint of confusion. He checks the other books as well, and they're all on the same topic, indeed.

Takeru scratches his cheek. “I thought it'd be fun to try something out… Flame says we need a hobby, and I agree.”

“That's…” _Cute_. “Great, Takeru. But we don't even have any patch of land to start working.”

He's not super thrilled about the idea, though he'd be doing it with Takeru, and spending time with his boyfriend is always great. So the good outweighs the bad.

“Actually, we do,” Takeru says, taking a hand to his pocket and pulling out a small paper that's clearly been folded too many times. “The local orphanage's going to start a gardening section for the kids, and they need some volunteers to help out. It'd be a good chance to learn.”

“I don't know, Takeru. I'm not very good around kids.”

“I have a feeling you'd do great,” Takeru muses, mostly to himself. “It'll be okay, I'll be with you at all times. Yusaku… You can't just spend every day inside this truck.”

Yusaku looks away and Takeru sighs fondly, sitting on the chair next to him.

“It's okay, you know? Link VRAINS is okay. The Knights of Hanoi won't be acting anytime soon, you defeated Bohman and Zaizen is keeping SOL under control… You need to have fun, Yusaku.”

“I… Know that,” Yusaku sighs. “It's just, hard.”

“Hey, that's why I'm here,” Takeru smiles and leans over, giving a tiny peek to Yusaku's cheek. “Let's give it a try. If you really don't like it, I'll look for something else to do.”

Yusaku manages to return the smile. “Alright, Takeru. ...Thank you.”

“Of course. Anything for you, Yusaku.” Takeru gazes kindly at him. “So, should I give them a call and say that we'll be dropping by?”

“Yeah,” Yusaku agrees easily enough.

Takeru's told that they can come tomorrow to get started and that it's okay if they don't have any experience, the orphanage staff will be more than happy to assist them if needed.

So at 10AM of the next day, they're both as punctual as ever, waiting at the building's front door. A young woman welcomes them in and hands them the volunteering application forms. It's simple to fill in, it just asks for their personal information and reasons why they want to join this project…

Except for the last part, which catches them off guard.

“What flowers would you like to plant,” Yusaku reads it out loud, and he gives Takeru a helpless stare because they hadn't remotely thought about that. They could write down that they don't have a preference, or leave the section blank, but it'd feel kind of lame.

“That's a good question…” Takeru taps his chin with the pen he's holding. “Wait, I think I've got mine.”

“Which one did you pick?”

“It's a secret.” Takeru winks deviously, making sure that Yusaku can't take a look at his sheet.

Yusaku makes a face that's almost certainly meant to be a pout, and Takeru insists on how he wants it to be a surprise, and that 'It'll be adorable when you see them, Yusaku, really, it's cuter if I don't spoil it to you’. So after the tiniest attempt of nagging, Yusaku gives up.

That still doesn't solve Yusaku's own problem, though. While he's knowledgeable in many fields, botany isn't one of them; he regrets not taking a look at Takeru's book supply yesterday.

To top it off, the patch of land where they'll be working doesn't have any shade, so he has to pick a plant that grows well with direct sunlight.

He decides to roll with sunflowers. They’re sure to be healthy and are easy to take care off, as far as he knows. Perhaps it's kind of a cliché, but they remind him of Takeru's vibrant attitude, too. It's a nice detail that makes them the perfect choice.

The staff reviews their applications, giving them their approval, and the owner happens to have seeds for the plants they wanted, so no trip to the gardening store is required.

All the orphanage kids are playing outside, which makes it somewhat awkward when Yusaku and Takeru show up of nowhere to start the project. Thankfully for Yusaku, they just seem curious, if a bit intimidated, and they don't try to talk to him, gravitating towards the much friendlier-looking Takeru instead.

That's perfect for Yusaku, anyway. It's not like he dislikes kids, far from it, actually; they're simply overwhelming to deal with, sometimes.

The owner kindly gives Yusaku and Takeru a few tips and assigns them both their own lands. The seed package includes some instructions on how to plant them, but Yusaku pulls out his phone and looks it up just to be sure. Once he's confident on what he has to do, he puts it down and gets the task started.

With the shovel, he gets the bed done first, digging the field so that the roots of the sunflowers will have enough space to stretch around. Then he prepares the soil, waits until the sunlight warms it up to a nice temperature, and kneels down to plant the seeds.

Soon enough, Takeru’s done with his own patch as well. Yusaku’s still kind of curious on why Takeru is being so secretive about his flower, and he doesn’t miss the chance to ask about it when they’re heading home.

“I still won’t tell you, Yusaku,” he simply smiles cryptically. “Which one did _you_ pick, anyway?”

“We both can play this game,” Yusaku shrugs. “So I guess we’ll have to wait if we want to find out.”

“Then let’s make a deal. No peeking at the other’s field until the flowers start growing, okay?”

“Do you really want to surprise me that much?”

“Mhm, mhm,” Takeru nods enthusiastically, clasping his hand with Yusaku’s, fingers intertwining. “Really.”

Yusaku’s lips tug upwards softly, and he agrees to the deal, even if he knows he won’t be able to keep it; sunflowers grow pretty tall in a short span of time, after all. Still, Takeru’s satisfied grin is enough to make him feel happy, too.

They keep dropping by the orphanage quite often, making sure to water the sprouts properly, and reading Takeru’s borrowed books on their free time. The owner is pretty pleased with their work; they’re both nice and diligent, and the kids have grown used to Yusaku’s rather aloof nature, so there’s an amicable atmosphere all around.

Yusaku finds that he’s really glad Takeru suggested doing this, because he actually enjoys working. There’s something incredibly pleasant about it; maybe it’s the nice spring weather, with a soothing breeze carrying the children’s happy laughter everywhere, or the tiny sense of accomplishment that comes with knowing that these little sprouts are living thanks to him.

He hasn’t felt such inner peace for a long time; he’s healing and growing stronger along with them, and maybe he’s still far from recovered, but Takeru’s with him on every step of the way. They’re both helping each other, and when he and Takeru are resting under the shade of a tree and Takeru falls soundly sleep, resting his head on his shoulder, Yusaku knows they’ll be okay.

As Yusaku expected, his flowers are the first one to bloom, welcoming the scorching summer sun with open arms. The kids enjoy looking at them as the day goes on, yellow petals slowly switching orientation to match the Sun’s journey.

“Sunflowers, huh?” Takeru says. “They’re the perfect summer plants, indeed…”

“They are, but I didn’t pick them because of that.”

“Then why?”

“Well… They’re pretty fitting for the fiery Duelist Soulburner, right?” Yusaku mumbles, hoping that his face doesn’t look as hot as it feels.

“That’s… So sweet of you. I didn’t know you had it in you to be sappy,” Takeru giggles softly before pulling him close for a kiss.

Takeru’s flowers take a few more days to bloom. Their cool shade of purples and blues provides a great contrast with Yusaku’s bright yellow ones, and while they’re not as fancy or as remarkable as the sunflowers, they’re beautiful all the same.

“Bellflowers,” Yusaku recognizes them; they’re a well-known species and they were mentioned in one of the books pretty often.

“Do you like them?” Takeru asks as he kneels down and, with a pair of scissors, gently cuts one of them off. “Here, this one’s for you.”

“Thank you,” Yusaku takes it and presses it to his chest with fondness.

“My friend Kiku liked flowers. Like… The symbolism, and all that stuff,” Takeru explains. “These were one of her favorites.”

“What do they mean?”

“Affection, gratitude and… Everlasting love,” Takeru practically rushes out the last part, with a flush creeping on his neck. “I thought they were perfect for, you know. You. Um, us?”

A soft chuckle escapes Yusaku’s mouth before he can retain it. He shouldn’t be laughing because he can feel his own skin warming up, but he can’t help himself when Takeru’s being like this. “And I’m the sappy one here,”

“Y-Yusaku!” Takeru whines, pushing up his glasses. “Give me a break here… Do you know how much Flame teased me about it? I don’t need you laughing at me too...”

“I can’t help it. But… I’m kinda glad we both had the same idea, really.”

“Me too. I’m kinda sad it’s over…”

“It doesn’t have to be,” Yusaku mindlessly mutters. “We could buy pots and some soil. Maybe it won’t really be the same, though…”

“Hmm... Well, you know, your apartment _does_ need some decoration… I bet we could grow some indoor plants to make it a bit more colorful.”

“I guess so.” Yusaku nods, very much liking that idea. “Roboppy’s probably bored of seeing those worn down walls.”

“Yeah. Poor Roboppy,” Takeru cackles good-heartedly. “But I don’t know much about indoor gardening. I didn’t pick up any books on that.”

“You can always drop by the library again. Or ask Spectre, even. He’s bound to know something.”

...They could’ve asked him on gardening tips from the very beginning, actually. Yusaku feels kind of dumb now. Oh well; what’s done is done.

They head back home hand in hand, each holding a blooming flower and a blooming hope for the future.


End file.
